The survery said there are 14,540 farms that were USDA certified organic or exempt from certification because sales are less than $5,000 -- including 129 in Maryland. The number has doubled at least twice since 1990.

They farm 4.1 million acres of land in all 50 states, though California is home to 20 percent of the farms. That's up from about 1 million acres in 1990. (It's still only about a percent of all farmed crop and pasture land.)

In 2008, sales of organic products nationwide totaled $3.16 billion. Some $1.94 billion was spent on crops and $1.22 billion on livestock, poultry and their products.

Organic farms took in more in sales than conventional farms: An average of $217,675 verses a $134,807 average for all farms. But they also spent more on production: $171,978 on organic farms, compared with an average $109,359 on all farms.

Organic farming is largely local with about 44 percent of sales were made within 100 miles from the farm. Though, just 7 percent were direct to consumers at farmers' markets and other means. The rest went to wholesalers and retailers.

What about the future? More than 78 percent of the farms say they plan to keep up the organic farming and even increase production in coming years.

More than 3,500 people will relive a little bit of their childhoods on a giant scale as they slip and slide for 1,000 feet down Trinity Street in Hartford when Slide the City comes to town Saturday, Aug. 22.

Downtown Madison, Connecticut, has the feel of a beach town, though the beach itself is nearly 2 miles away. In addition to shops and restaurants, the town has one of the best independent bookstores in the state and a century-old independent movie theater.

Jamaican reggae artist Luciano, Barbadian jazz saxophonist Elan Trotman, the music and dance troop Iroko Nuevo and other Caribbean-style performers head to Mortensen Riverfront Plaza on Saturday, Aug. 1, from 1 to 11 p.m. for the 10th annual Taste of the Caribbean and Jerk Festival.

Summer is a great time for running in Connecticut — outside of the heat and humidity, the swarms of mosquitoes and flies and the crowds trying to enjoy this short-lived season of sunshine. Besides that, it's great getting a chance to lay down the ear warmers and unearth those tank tops. But once...

The sounds of Mexico, along with dancing, hand-clapping and maraca-shaking, come to the Old State House Farmers Market. Fiesta del Norte, Connecticut's first mariachi band, performs on Friday, July 31, at noon at Connecticut's Old State House, 800 Main St., Hartford.

Cirque Éloize, founded in Montreal in 1993, over a decade after Cirque du Soleil, is purposefully polished and neatly paced, but modern in its thinking. It's "iD" show comes to Foxwoods for a monthlong run.